Hamilton turns Friday tables on Bottas again, Ferrari show slight improvement

Lewis Hamilton turned the tables on Valtteri Bottas for a third successive Friday to head into the Italian Grand Prix weekend with the upper hand on his Mercedes team-mate.

Around a power-heavy, low-downforce Monza circuit, it was no surprise to see yet another Mercedes one-two, even with the first glimpse of the so-called party mode ban in operation.

After Bottas topped the FP1 timesheet at the end of first practice, as was the case ahead of the last two races in Spain and Belgium, Hamilton flipped it around in FP2.

As the drivers upped the pace in the second session with the first pre-qualifying laps, Hamilton led the way with a lap of one minute 20.192secs, finishing almost three-tenths of a second clear of Bottas.

From this weekend, the FIA has issued a technical directive stating all teams are no longer able to increase power throughout qualifying, with the rule now that the output from the power unit must remain constant throughout Saturday and Sunday.

If the gap to its nearest rivals at the end of FP2 is any indication, such a ban is unlikely to have any effect on Mercedes.

Surprisingly, McLaren's Lando Norris finished third quickest, albeit nine-tenths of a second behind Hamilton, setting his hot lap late on when others around him were on their long runs after an engine issue had confined him to the garage for around half of the session.

Surprisingly, AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly was fourth fastest, just a fraction of a second behind Norris, but almost a tenth up on Max Verstappen in his Red Bull, and with team-mate Daniil Kvyat seventh, a quarter of a second back.

Verstappen had caused a red flag during FP1 when he spun into a barrier on the exit of the Ascari chicane, dislodging the front wing and requiring a replacement.

Team principal Christian Horner had suggested "a disconnect in balance" for the spin, with no ill effects seemingly being felt in FP2, although the gap of 1.036s to Hamilton will be painful.

Carlos Sainz suggested McLaren are in the running for a strong position this weekend as the Spaniard was sixth quickest, followed by Kvyat, Racing Point's Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez in eighth and 10th.

Sandwiching the Racing Point duo was Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, offering a glimmer of hope for the Scuderia that they may score points on home soil after emerging from the Belgian Grand Prix with the team's worst two-car finish for a decade.

Leclerc did plough across the grass at one point which led to him proclaiming over the radio that: "The car is so hard to drive!"

As for team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who also spun, just missing hitting a barrier with the rear wing, the four-time champion was 12th, 1.541s adrift, with Renault's Esteban Ocon separating the Ferrari pair.

Renault team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was down in 15th, albeit his time set on the medium-compound tyre as he was one of a number of drivers who had a lap deleted for exceeding track limits.

At the rear, and threatening a difficult weekend for the final one for deputy team principal Claire Wiliams, were Williams pair Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, 2.6s and 2.7s respectively off the pace.

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